SEARCH ANDY SHERNOFF OF THE DICTATORS MEETS THE ZOMBIE JEW 10.24.2011 05:02 pm Topics: Amusing Belief Hysteria Kooks Music Punk Tags: Andy Shernoff Are You Ready To Rapture Ace musician, producer, founding member of The Dictators and Dangerous Minds’ friend Andy Shernoff has a new Youtube video and it’s a winner. Andy shared with DM the history and inspiration behind the making of Are You Ready To Rapture: I grew up in New York City so the only people I knew who believed that Jesus was actually going to fly down from the sky were mentally ill preachers screaming their lungs out in what was then a very seedy Times Square. I had no idea how widespread this revenge fantasy called the Rapture was until a few years ago. I had the phrase Jewish Zombie rolling through my brain and wanted to incorporate it into a song. I developed a fascination with Christian eschatology and researched it extensively. I wanted everything in the The last known recording of Lennon & song to accurately represent what these knuckleheads believe. It McCartney: ‘A Toot and a Snore in ‘74’ took a few months and I probably wrote 25 verses until I had three with the right combination of drama, truth and sarcasm. Gorgeous psychedelic handbills and posters I felt the best way to communicate the song was with a cartoon. I met from Detroit’s Grande Ballroom, circa 1967‑68 Brian Musikoff through a mutual friend and he was the only person considered after I saw his animation for a Patton Oswalt’s comedy routine, ‘Christmas Shoes’. I liked his visual style and felt he made a Andy Kaufman punks ‘The Dating Game,’ 1978 great bit even funnier. Animation is very labor intensive so it took most of 2011 to finish it off. I busted Brian’s ass to get it done by October 21st the projected date Comedians on psychedelic drugs of the Rapture and we posted it to YouTube on October 20th just in time to catch a little wave of Rapture publicity. I find it terrifying that many Republican candidates for President not Tom Waits, great American bullshit artist only believes that Jesus will return to earth in their lifetime, but that the ensuing destruction would be a good thing. They’re just so confident that they will be raptured while every person who has not let Jesus into their life will burn in the eternal flames of hell….. It is ‘Love and reverse‑psychedelics’: Synthesizer pioneer Bruce Haack on ‘Mr. Roger’s our patriotic duty as Americans to mock such irrationality. Neighborhood,’ 1968 By the way the song is available as a vinyl 45 from your favorite local record store with an unreleased Joey Ramone track as the B‐side” Inside the Surrealist Ball, 1972 . Are You Ready To Rapture manages to do two things really well at the same time: it makes a timely political statement and it’s a terrific rock song. That’s hard to pull off and we haven’t seen much of it since The Clash and The Sex Pistols. Andy Shernoff, as punk as he ever was, reminds us that the history of rock and roll is also the history of cultural change and subversion ­ a revolution you can dance to. Nicely done Shernoff! Posted by Marc Campbell Tweet 0 Like Share 3 3 StumbleUpon Submit Dangerous Minds Like 2,990,314 people like Dangerous Minds. 25 CELEBS YOU THE SEXIEST FEMALE TOP 34 HILARIOUS DIDN’T KNOW WERE COMIC BOOK DEMOTIVATIONAL ALCOHOL ADDICTS! CHARACTERS POSTERS THIS IS THE NAZI THE GREATEST ROCK WHY AN AMERICAN ARTIST WHO FOOLED BAND LOGOS OF ALL LEGEND HATED GOD US ALL TIME Sponsored (http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.nj.com/hobokennow/2011/10/proto- Menu Set Weather Subscribe punk_andy_shernoff_asks.html/1176360351/SponsorRight/NJONLINE/default/empty.gif/474d483944564c657a77304144724153) Sign In Search (http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.nj.com/hobokennow/2011/10/proto- punk_andy_shernoff_asks.html/1562976608/Tower/NJONLINE/default/em(hptttpy:/./gwiwf/w4.7n4j.cdo4m8/3) 944564c657a77304144724153) Proto-punk Andy Shernoff asks "Are You Ready to Rapture?" with help from Hoboken animator Print (http://blog.nj.com/hobokennow_impact/print.html?entry=/2011/10/proto- punk_andy_shernoff_asks.html) (http://connect.nj.com/user/jimtesta/index.html) By Jim Testa | For The Jersey Journal (http://connect.nj.com/user/jimtesta/posts.html) Follow on Twitter (http://twitter.com/jimjbeat) on October 21, 2011 at 1:05 PM (phutntpk:_/a/anddsy._nsj.hceormno/Rffe_aalsMkse.dhitam/al/d1s6/8c5li7c8k1_1l3x8.a/dStso/rwywAwd/.nNjJ.cOoNmL/IhNoEb/odkeefnanuoltw/e/m20p1t1y/.g10if/p4r7o4tdo4­83944564c657a77304144724153) Radio broadcaster Harold Camping admitted that he was wrong about the world ending back in May, but he’s done the math again and this time he’s certain that SHOP SHOP doomsday will arrive today, October 21. Hoboken artist Brian Musikoff animated the satirical video for Andy Shernoff's new single "Are You Ready to Rapture" (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/end_of_the_world_­ _again.html) Appropriately, Andy Shernoff – founding member of punk rock godfathers the Dictators and a renowned producer, songwriter, and entertainer – has 12­Inch Neckless Glass Shade ­ 5­1/4­Inch Fitter... released a song for the occasion; his new single is entitled “Are You Ready to $22.95 Rapture?” and you can sample it for free – along with the hilarious accompanying SHOP SHOP animation by Hoboken cartoon artist Brian Musikoff – on YouTube. Musikoff ­ a longtime Hoboken resident, bartender, musician, and cartoonist ­ is no Get Healthy: Health & stranger to Hoboken Now; Fitness Info for N.J. (http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2011/06/behind_a_bar_or_on_a_stage_hob.html) “people know him from his comic books or playing in bands, but Brian is a very talented animator as well,” said Shernoff. “As soon as I saw his work, I knew he was the right person to do this video.” The video for “Are You Ready to Rapture” – which is rated R and “Not Safe For Work,” in case you’re reading this at your desk, and could be offensive to religious viewers ­­ features zombified versions of Uncle Sam, Michael Jackson, Joey Ramone, and Jesus, rising from the dead on Armageddon Day. (http://www.nj.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/08/suicides_on_the_rise_among_baby_boomer_men_rutgers_study.html) “It used to be that there would be these nutjobs standing on a street corner in Times Suicides on the rise among Baby Boomer men: Rutgers Square screaming about the end of the world, and nobody took them seriously,” said study Shernoff. “Now we have people with these beliefs featured in the media, and some of (http://www.nj.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/08/suicides_on_the_rise_among_baby_boomer_men_rutgers_study.html#incart_special- them are even running for president. I would never mock somebody’s religion, but if report) it’s going to affect public policy, then I have a right to satirize it. And if I can get a good Give expectant moms more help laugh out of it, even better.” choosing hospitals: Editorial (http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/08/give_expectant_moms_more_help_choosing_hospitals_editorial.html#incart_special- The flipside of the “Rapture” 7­inch, “Make Me Tremble,” features a guest vocal by report) Joey Ramone, recorded shortly before he passed away. Shernoff produced and co­ Chiggers in N.J.? The myths, the truths, and my story wrote several songs on Joey’s solo album, “Don’t Worry About Me.” (http://www.nj.com/indulge/index.ssf/2014/08/chiggers_the_myths_the_truths_and_my_story.html#incart_special- report) Shernoff has been taking Deadline looms for N.J. immigrants to clear up Obamacare discrepancies potshots at American culture (http://www.nj.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/08/deadline_looms_for_immigrants_to_clear_up_obamacare_discrepancies.html#incart_special- report) since the mid­Seventies, when report) since the mid­Seventies, when he and some friends from Queens formed the Dictators, one of New York City’s first punk rock bands. Their seminal Video of the Day 1975 album “The Dictators Go Girl Crazy” predated the debut of the Ramones by a year. “It was much easier for rock ‘n’ roll to be politically incorrect back then,” said Shernoff. “We could sing about drugs and girls and being Jewish and nobody Florence Attempted Andy Shernoff, considered one of the founders of New York City took us seriously enough to be Robbery punk rock. offended. Nowadays there are (http://videos.nj.com/nj/2014/08/florenceattemptedrobbery.html#incart_photo) more drugs on Wall Street than there are at rock shows. The culture has shifted, as it always does. So I just decided to write a song to amuse myself and make a statement at the same time. That’s the way I’ve always written, going back to the Dictators songs that raised some eyebrows like Trending Videos ‘Master Race Rock.’” “Punk rock has won,” he added. “When we started, the motto was do it yourself. Today, it’s true; anyone can do it. With new technology, you don’t need an expensive studio to make a record, you can do it in your bedroom. A lot of people complain about the state of the music business, but I’m really excited about it. Take this single, for instance. I had the choice to do an EP, a CD, or a video. Well, with this video, we can throw it up on Youtube for free and pass it around, and potentially millions of people can see it. You didn’t have that kind of opportunity before. I’m really lucky that I’ve had a career that’s lasted this long, and now I can go direct to my audience.” Over the years, Shernoff has produced records for artists like Joey Ramone, D Generation, The Smithereens, and Guided By Voices, among many others, and songs that he’s written have been covered by Mary Weiss of the Shangri­La’s, Dion DiMucci Most Read (of Dion & The Belmonts,) Turbonegro, the Young Fresh Fellows, and many more.